The PGA Tour defended the controversial deal it signed with Saudi-backed LIV Golf on Tuesday in testimony before a U.S. Senate subcommittee in Washington, D.C.
PGA Tour COO Ron Price told the Senate Homeland Security Committee’s investigations subcommittee that a Saudi wealth fund was willing to invest more than $1 billion into the sport if the merger is approved, according to The Washington Post.
“You generally don’t negotiate a deal in public, but we’re committed to try to move from a framework agreement to a definitive agreement,” Price said, reported The New York Times.
Price added that the PGA Tour did not seek out the Saudis, who were involved in litigation with the U.S.-based pro golf circuit earlier in 2023.
“We faced a real threat that LIV Golf, which is 100-percent financed by the Kingdom of Saudi, would become the leader of professional golf,” Price said, according to Yahoo Sports.
The agreement that would merge the operations of the two rival tours was met with skepticism from some senators during the hearing.
“The money is the reason you surrendered,” Sen. Blumenthal (D-CT) told Price and James Dunne, a member of PGA Tour’s board of directors.
Earlier on Tuesday, Blumenthal said the hearing was “about hypocrisy, how vast sums of money can induce individuals and institutions to betray their own values and supporters, or perhaps reveal a lack of values from the beginning. It’s about other sports and institutions that could fall prey, if their leaders let it be all about the money,” according to NYT.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) said there was nothing wrong with the PGA Tour merging with LIV Golf.
“Negotiations are often delicate, mostly private, and I fear Congress’s getting involved at this stage could have negative consequences,” Johnson said, per NYT.
The former CEO of Dallas-based AT&T resigned from PGA Tour’s board just a few days before the hearing. In his letter of resignation, Randall Stephenson said that “the construct currently being negotiated by management is not one that I can objectively evaluate or in good conscience support.”
Stephenson objected to Saudi involvement after the death of Jamal Khashoggi, The Dallas Express reported previously. Khashoggi allegedly was captured and killed by the Saudis in 2018.
